built between 1847 and 1861; a large penitentiary, insane asylum, orphans' asylum,and beggars' asylum; a law school, artisans' school (Lyceu de Artes e Officios), and archaeological institute; a normal school and school of engineering; and war and naval arsenals. One of the most attractive churches is that of Nossa Senhora da y Penha, surmounted by two slender spires and a dome.
The port of Recife is one of the most important of Brazil, on account of its proximity to Europe and its convenience for vessels passing around the east shoulder of the continent. It is the landing-place for two transatlantic and one coast wise cable lines. Its harbour consists of an outer and inner anchorage, the former an open road stead, which are separated by a remarkable stone reef running parallel with the shore-line, leaving an inside passage 400 to 500 ft. wide. The entrance to the inner anchorage, which has a depth of about 20 ft., is opposite Fort Brum in the northern part of the city, and is marked by a small Dutch fort (Picão) and a lighthouse at the northern extremity of the reef. This remarkable natural breakwater, which is about 50 ft. wide on top and has been repaired with masonry in some places, covers a considerable part of the coastline in this part of Brazil. It is not a coral reef, as is sometimes stated, but is a consolidated ancient beach, now as hard and firm as stone.[1] In 1910 contractors were at work on improvements to the port to cost about £1,666,000, under a decree of the 3rd of December 1908. The exports include sugar, rum, cotton, hides, skins, rubber, wax, fibres, dyewoods, cacáu, mandioca flour, pineapples and other fruits. Pernambuco is the principal sugar-producing state of Brazil, and Recife is therefore an important centre for this product. Its railway communications with the interior are good, and include the Sul de Pernambuco, Recife and São Francisco, Central de Pernambuco, and the Recife to Limoeiro lines, the first three now being under the management of the Great Western of Brazil Co. There are also suburban lines to Olinda, and Caxangá, the latter providing communication with some of the prettiest suburbs about the city.
Recife was settled about 1535, when Duarte Coelho Pereira landed there to take possession of the captaincy granted him by the Portuguese crown. The site of Coelho's capital was Olinda, but Recife remained its port and did not become an independent villa (town) until 1710. Down to the close of the 18th century, when Rio de Janeiro became important, Recife was the second city of Brazil, and for a time its most important port. It was captured and plundered in 1595 by the English privateer James Lancaster. It was also captured by the Dutch in 1630 and remained in their possession till 1654, during which time the island of Antonio Vaz was occupied and the town greatly improved. At the end of the Dutch War the capital was removed from Olinda to Recife, where it has since remained.
RECIPE, a statement of the materials and ingredients used
in the making and preparation of a dish for cooking, a receipt.
This is the principal current use, which was first applied to
medieval prescriptions from the custom of placing the word,
meaning “ take this ” (imperative of Lat. recipere, to receive),
often abbreviated R or ℞, at the head of the formula.
RECIPROCITY (Lat. reciprocus, returning back the same way, alternating, probably from re back and pro forward), the
condition or state of being reciprocal, i.e. where there is give
and take, mutual influence or correspondence between two
parties, persons or things. In a more particular sense, reciprocity
is a special arrangement between two nations under
which the citizens of each obtain advantages or privileges in
their trading relations with the other. This meaning of
reciprocity, however, bears a different interpretation in European
and in American usage. In the former, reciprocity between two
nations usually means little more than the extension by one to
the other of most favoured nation treatment, i.e. such advantages
as it extends to any third country (see Commercial Treaties).
But in the United States reciprocity is the term applied to the concessions or arrangements made between that country and another without reference to any third country. Thus in the United States there are a maximum and minimum tariff, the rates of the maximum tariff being enforced on the goods of those countries which have no reciprocity treaty with the United States, and the rates of the minimum on certain products of those countries which have by a reciprocity treaty given special advantages or concessions to certain products of the United States.
RECITAL (from Lat. recitare, to read out, particularly of a public document), an account or repetition of the details of some
act, proceeding, fact, &c., particularly, in law, that part of a
legal document, such as a lease, which contains a statement of
certain facts, e.g. the purport for which the deed is made. In
music, the word is used of an instrumental performance given
by a single person, and also of a performance of the works of a
single composer.
RECKLINGHAUSEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian
province of Westphalia, 22 m. by rail N.W. of Dortmund on the railway to Münster. Pop. (1905) 44,396. In the neighbourhood
are extensive coal-mines and brick-works, and the industries
embrace the manufacture of linen, beer, spirits and tobacco.
The county of Recklinghausen belonged to the archbishopric of Cologne until 1803, when it passed to the duke of Arenberg. It was known as the Vest Recklinghausen. In 1810 it was divided by Napoleon between the grand duchy of Berg and France, but was, in 1815, restored to the duke of Arenberg as a fief under Prussian sovereignty.
See Ritz, Die ältere Geschichte des Veste und der Stadt Recklinghausen (Erzen, 1904).
RECLAMATION OF LAND. The boundaries between, sea
and land are perennially changing. In many sheltered bays and estuaries the sea is receding, while along other portions of the
sea-coast it is continuously encroaching. The same causes
operate to produce both results: the rivers carry down with
them detritus and sediment from the higher ground; the sea,
aided by wind and tide, is always eroding exposed portions of the
seaboard; and even such lesser influences as rain and frost
assist in disintegrating cliffs composed of softer strata.
The main object of reclaiming land from the sea is to increase the area of ground available for cultivation. Land which has been raised by accretion nearly to high-water level can be shut off from the sea by works of a simple and inexpensive nature, and the fresh alluvial soil thus obtained is generally very fertile. Accretion in estuaries takes place very slowly under ordinary conditions. Although at any one time the sheltered areas may be large and the deposit of silt fairly rapid, not much permanent accretion will take place owing to the frequent shifting of the channels. Directly, however, aiixed channel is secured by longitudinal embankments or training walls, accretion progresses rapidly and uninterruptedly by the deposit of sediment in the slack-water behind the embankments and at the sides of the estuary; and this is especially the case if the training works are raised to the level of high water, for this has the effect of restricting the greater part of the scour of tide and fresh-water discharge to the one fixed channel. The rate of accretion varies with the shelter of the site and the amount of sediment carried by the water; but by degrees the foreshores, in the upper portion and at the sides of the embanked estuary, are raised sufficiently for samphire to make its appearance, and, later on, a coarse grass. Ultimately the time arrives when the water may be altogether excluded by the construction of enclosing embankments; these must be raised above the level of the highest tide, and should have a flat slope on the exposed side, protected, in proportion to exposure and depth of water, against the face with clay, sods, fascines or stone pitching.
In the intermediate stages of the process outlined above much may be done to promote the growth of accretion, or warping as it is termed, and to ensure the fertility of the reclaimed land. The deposit of warp is accelerated by anything which tends to reduce the flow and consequent scour of the ebb-tide over the
- ↑ See J. C. Branner's The Stone Reefs of Brazil (Bul. Comp. Zool., Harvard Univ., xliv., Cambridge, 1904).
